A solar energy driven thermochemical cycle based integrated system for hydrogen production

Abstract

In this study, an assessment of a newly developed solar energy-driven thermochemical cycle for hydrogen generation and potentially injection into the natural gas pipeline is performed. The hydrogen, produced by the heavy element halide cycle, is blended with natural gas at particular ratios. A blend of 80% natural gas and 20% hydrogen by volume is supplied to the community for the gas turbine system, gas cooker, and combi boiler. The desalination units are integrated to produce freshwater for a community, which potentially consists of 10,000 houses. The present integrated system is then analyzed through the energy and exergy approaches. The parametric studies are further performed for different volumetric hydrogen ratios, ambient temperature, and the number of houses. Here, 0.005 kg/s of hydrogen and 0.19 kg/s of natural gas are provided to the gas turbine system to generate electricity and heat. A heat recovery steam generator is utilized both for organic Rankine cycle and multi-effect distillation unit. A total of 4.5 MW electricity is generated by the gas turbine and the organic Rankine cycles. Moreover, a total of 34.62 kg/s of freshwater is provided by two specific reverse osmosis and multi-effect distillation units. The overall exergetic and energetic efficiencies of the present integrated system are obtained as 21.3% and 26.1% for the selected operating conditions.